Do not assume another person’s role supplies the principal’s own required engagement. Explain the investor’s actual rights and any proposed delegation for review.
Separate enterprise participation from derivative eligibility
A qualifying spouse and unmarried children under 21 may seek derivative benefits subject to individual eligibility and applicable age rules. Their inclusion does not erase the investor’s participation requirement, and taking a company role does not itself grant U.S. work permission before an appropriate status or authorization exists.
Two separate files keep this straight. The investor’s file holds the participation evidence: the executed agreement, the clauses relied on, and any delegation recorded in writing with its date. Each family member’s file holds that person’s own eligibility evidence: passport, civil documents establishing the relationship, and material addressing admissibility, with certified translations where an original is in another language.
Nothing moves between the two files. Where a spouse takes a role in the enterprise, record it in the corporate records as what it is — an appointment, with duties and a date — and treat the question of whether that person may lawfully work as a separate one, answered by their own status or authorization before any work begins. Age matters for derivative eligibility, so record each child’s date of birth at the outset rather than at the end.